


The Sunless Way

by pantswarrior



Category: Suikoden, Vagrant Story
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, Community: hc_bingo, Crossover, Dark Magic, Gen, Immortality, Kindred Spirits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-30
Updated: 2013-04-30
Packaged: 2017-12-10 00:51:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/779896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pantswarrior/pseuds/pantswarrior
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The young Bearer of the Blood-Sin, lost on what he believes to be the darkest of paths, encounters two who have been walking a similar path for a long time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Sunless Way

**Author's Note:**

> For hc_bingo's April mini-challenge. The four prompts I was given were "learning to be loved", "attacked by a creature", "ostracised from society", and "forced soulbonding". April was busier than I was hoping it would be, and originally I was intending to fully incorporate all four prompts into this fic, though the challenge only requires using one for a crossover fic. I at least touched a little on all four, though "attacked by a creature" is the most blatant one, and "forced soulbonding" is alluded to throughout. "Ostracised from society" is at least given a mention, though I didn't have time to go into detail, and I'd say that "learning to be loved" is where this fic is headed ~~and where it will go if I write more, which I might, but this is what I've got at the deadline soooooo~~.
> 
> When the idea for this story came to me, I quickly realized it would actually work best if it took place in the future of [a previous fic](http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1195351/1/Landslide) which I co-authored. So if you're familiar with Suikoden 1 and 2 and going "WTF?!" at Gremio's situation in this story, the explanation's over there. But it's a long one. ;)

So then... is this how it ends?

Yet he knew better, even as the query came to him. Although the growling creature that now stood before him was monstrous - and monstrous it was, akin to the great bears whose carcasses he had seen when slain by his father's guard, but with a more pointed snout and tusks like a boar, and stripes upon the head and haunches that were a vivid orange even in the dim of evening in a thick forest - he knew it could not destroy him. Not completely.

Nay - it was the whispers in his ear, telling him precisely this, it is nothing before us, which were destroying him. Sustaining his body, but destroying _him_.

When the creature lunged, he felt the opposing pull against his will, demands to be loosed to destroy and to revel in the destruction. He refused, and though his arm rose instinctively to protect his head, he did no more. He could not run, and he _would_ not let the Dark have its way again. He would simply... endure.

The teeth were sharp, tearing through the cloak and the sleeve of his shirt, and snagging in the rags bound beneath, threatening to unravel them as jaws opened and closed upon his arm again and again. He closed his eyes; though he felt no pain, the pain would surely come.

"Oh, my! Now s-see here, stop that at once!"

He opened his eyes again at the unexpected sound of a voice, speaking the common tongue. A voice that was startled by the scene unfolding, but the man emerging from the underbrush looked not the slightest bit afraid as he stepped up to face the beast, which dropped what it was doing to regard the newcomer.

"I know, I know - he's come close to your lair, and it's dinnertime," said the strange man, looking up to meet the beast's eyes with a firmness in his expression and a tone to match - oddly enough, a tone reminiscent of a nursemaid scolding a naughty child. "But I very much doubt he means any threat to your little ones - and there are more appropriate meals for you and your family in this wood. Now go," the man told the beast, which had - astonishingly - ceased its growling and simply looked back at the man who dared to admonish it. "Go on now - shoo! Go find a deer... or whatever it is that you normally eat around here. You'll not harm this one."

The beast stared at the man. The man stared back. After a moment's hesitation, the beast dropped to all fours, and began to lumber off back into the thick underbrush from which it had emerged.

"Good girl," the man murmured, watching the beast's retreat. "Very good. Now _you_ ," he said, concern appearing on his face as he turned to the beast's intended prey, rushing to the place where he had dropped when the beast released his arm, kneeling at his side. "Are you all right? Do you need healing? We have bandages, perhaps still some medicines - it's been so long... Ah, how fortunate - I hadn't realized you were armored beneath, you're so bundled up, and carry no sword that I can see..."

He had been so stunned by the man's abrupt appearance and subsequent dismissal of the attacking beast, he didn't even think to object to the way the man had taken hold of his arm to examine it until the man released it, giving him a warm smile from behind wisps of unruly golden hair, framing a face delicate, but scarred deeply on the cheek. "I'm sorry, I should introduce myself," he said. "My name is Gremio - might I inquire as to yours?"

He froze rather than replying, the psuedonym he'd taken forgotten in the strangeness of the moment. There was something... _something_ about the man. Something unnatural, and yet familiar.

Something had been drawing him here, this direction, across the waters, into the wilderness. Now that this Gremio was here before him, he no longer felt that tug.

"Dear me," murmured Gremio after a hesitation, as he got a better look at the face beneath the cloak and hood. "You're just a boy, barely older than..." The sentence was broken off with a slightly nervous laugh, but the whispers in his mind reported the explanation Gremio did not offer. Of course he's younger than Young Master - after all this time, how easily I still manage to forget! And alone and unarmed, all the way out here...

A serious look was beginning to creep onto Gremio's face, and perhaps they were coming to similar conclusions. The belated reply was tentative when it came. "...You may call me Sydney."

"Sydney..." Gremio was clearly distracted, but seemed to shake it off in favor of an attempt at cheerful friendliness. "A pleasure to meet you, Sydney. If I may ask, what is a boy like yourself doing out so far into the woods by yourself, especially at this hour? It's growing dark, and, ah, you've obviously already noticed that the beasts are hunting their dinner - and speaking of dinner, are you hungry?" My, but his face is so thin, the Dark relayed. "I can add a bit more to the stew pot if you'd care to join us, and I'm sure my Young Master won't mind."

"Thank you, but..." Sydney couldn't remember the last time he'd eaten. He couldn't recall the last time he'd had any appetite. His suspicions regarding Gremio made him wary as well - but also intrigued. "I would... not wish to impose..."

"It's no imposition," Gremio declared, with a firmness not unlike that he'd shown when facing the beast. "Not if you're invited - no, I _request_ that you join us. It's been a very long time since Young Master and I had anyone but each other for company, after all, and we could do with some tales we haven't already told."

"I..." Sydney wasn't sure what to do. The ever-present voices in his head seemed to be cackling with glee, and he was loathe to give them anything they desired. But _something_ was not right here, and his natural curiosity made him wonder. "Very well - I accept," he said finally, managing a smile he hoped was not too forced. "Thank you for the invitation."

The bright smile upon Gremio's lips didn't seem forced at all, but entirely honest. "You're quite welcome. Here," he said, getting to his feet and offering a hand. "I'll show you to where we've set up camp for the night."

Sydney was so distracted by his thoughts and the Dark's whispering that he didn't even realize until after the fact that he'd taken Gremio's hand without self-consciousness. It occurred to him then that perhaps it was not that something wasn't right - perhaps it was only that everything had been wrong for so long that it seemed unusual when they _were_ right.

\---

Whatever else Gremio was, he proved to be an excellent cook; despite the anxiety that had left Sydney's stomach too knotted to eat for weeks, the aroma drifting from the pot hanging above the small campfire was somehow enough to make his mouth water. Despite his misgivings, he found himself glad that he'd taken Gremio up on his offer.

His decision was both second-guessed and reinforced, however, upon the return of Gremio's "Young Master". A dark-haired boy a bit younger than himself, judging by the combination of his height and his still slightly rounded cheeks, but the Dark's whisperings grew even louder at his appearing. He had the same not-right (yet very right) sense about him that Gremio had, Sydney thought - and perhaps even more so. The Young Master stopped short upon seeing him, and said nothing for a very long time when Gremio explained how they had met, simply acknowledging with a thoughtful nod and introducing himself as Tir.

Tir was quiet by nature, it seemed, for it was Gremio who did most of the talking as they stoked the fire with the wood Tir had gathered and set out bread and fruit to accompany the stew that was nearly finished. Gremio's "special stew", Tir did speak up to explain, as Gremio began spooning it into serving bowls - he'd been perfecting the recipe for years, even though Tir had already thought it perfect when Gremio had made it for him as a little boy. It must have been something special for him, Sydney thought, to make him speak up, and to get such a warm smile from Gremio in response, though Gremio seemed to be a genuinely warm person in general.

By contrast, Tir was withdrawn. Not shy, Sydney thought, for there was a difference. Tir was not timid about speaking, but was more content to listen, and to choose his words carefully when he did speak. It made little difference to Sydney, of course. Throughout the meal, delicious though it was, the Dark told him of the thoughts Tir was thinking in his silence, and the thoughts Gremio hid behind friendly chatter.

His suspicions confirmed, it came as no surprise when after dinner, Gremio's demeanor grew more subdued, and looked to Tir to ask their unspoken question. "Sydney," Tir began, "you have a rune, don't you?"

The whispers of the Dark grew louder, laughing, and Sydney could not reply. Not when he didn't know why it was laughing.

"You're out this far by yourself, unarmed," Tir said. "And you keep your hands bound. But don't worry - we're not hunters. You see..."

Sydney had failed to notice that Tir was wearing gloves until the boy slipped one from his right hand, holding it up by the light of the fire to reveal an elaborate black mark in a shape that reminded Sydney somewhat of a scythe.

Within him, the Dark danced at the sight.

"We're both Bearers," Gremio added, and pushed up his sleeve to reveal the back of his own right hand, which bore a different dark mark. "And I believe it must have been your rune calling to ours that caused us to meet. Young Master and I both felt this... _tug_ , if you will, prompting us to journey south of where we had been staying, even out into these woods, far from the nearest town, and we couldn't say why..."

Pleasantries put aside for the moment, Gremio seemed not to know what else to say. Sydney himself, son of a diplomat, should have been able to reply, but he was uncertain. Did he dare to confirm their suspicions? If he chose to deny, would they know he was lying? All the while, the Dark was gibbering, distracting him, making it hard to think for himself. What they wanted was clear.

It must have been clear to Tir also, who spoke aloud the conclusions that Sydney had come to. "My rune knows you," he said, touching it cautiously, as if to calm an animal barely tamed. "Or rather, it knows something _about_ you. I believe they have... worked together in the past."

It would be of no use to deny it, then. "For no good, I dare say," said Sydney, and the words came with more bitterness than he had intended. "The Rood - what you call a rune - binds me to a... a dangerous force."

"As do ours," Gremio told him.

"We may not look like it," Tir continued, "but we both hold runes which have been used to destroy cities, even entire civilizations."

"Yes, we're well acquainted with dangerous forces," Gremio said, his tone somber. "As well as the struggle to control them, when one is so chosen. It is never easy-"

"It nearly destroyed Gremio," Tir put in. "The workings of mine were more subtle, but Gremio's rune is..." His voice trailed off, his expression uncertain.

"Like any wild creature, the Beast Rune immediately tried to assert its dominance," Gremio stated, seeing that Tir was searching for the words. "It was years before it truly accepted me as a master."

"And I faced my own battles," said Tir, with a fond glance at Gremio. "Fortunately, Gremio was there to see me through them."

"Most of them," Gremio corrected him, with a slightly sheepish answering glance. If not for Lady Leknaat's intervention, Young Master might never have come to peace with that rune of his...

Gremio's unspoken ponderings meant little to Sydney, and Tir was regarding him seriously once again. "You're newly bonded, aren't you?" the boy asked.

There _was_ no sense in denying it. "...A few weeks past, perhaps months," Sydney acknowledged. "I... I know not how long has passed."

Gremio made a sympathetic sound. "As it was hard for me, it has been hard for you, hasn't it? A constant struggle to remain in control of one's own will, of one's own body."

That was precisely what it was like. Sydney closed his eyes, unsure if he was comforted or not to know that someone might understand what he'd been enduring.

After a moment of silence, Tir spoke again. "May we see your hand?"

"Yes, I must admit that I'm quite curious now," Gremio agreed. "We've met other Bearers, but by no means do we even know the names of all the True Runes - which do you hold?" When Sydney hesitated, Gremio paused, then smiled faintly. It's no wonder he doesn't trust us - or perhaps it's himself he doesn't trust. "I know that as a recent acquaintance, my word means nothing to you... but would it be easier to believe that neither I nor my Young Master care to acquire yet another strong-willed, destructive power?"

It would have been impossible for either of them to lie to Sydney anyway, considering the powers granted him by the Dark, but their attempts to put him at ease were appreciated. Little by little, Sydney was finding his wariness worn away by their understanding of his situation - even if the Dark _did_ seem to reinforce the idea that he should trust Tir and Gremio. He had learned already that the Dark's recommendations were unlikely to bring good fortune to anyone in his vicinity.

At last, with a quiet sigh, he began to unwrap the rags that still bound his hands and forearms. "...My family has been secretly keeping the Dark in check for centuries. Yet I am the only child of my father, and I have been frail my entire life. I was very ill - he feared I would die, and he feared what would become of the Dark should he die with no heir. It seemed the only logical choice. The power we so carefully guarded must bond with me, and thus I would become immortal. However..."

As he spoke, he tugged one last time, letting the rags slip away from his hands - hands that bore no mark, as did Tir's and Gremio's. "...The Dark is demanding," he explained, holding his hands up, turning them in the firelight that glinted off smooth dark metal plates and thin, jointed blades in place of fingers, which then turned to unfasten the buckle of his cloak, and then the laces of his shirt. "Sacrifice was required; if my life was to be spared, my body must be offered in exchange." 

Sydney saw the look on Gremio's face, the slight motion when he covered his mouth in horror at what Sydney's clothing had been hiding - arms of metal strapped to what was left of human shoulders. Sydney had anticipated such a reaction; that was why he'd so carefully clothed himself, why he'd kept his hands wrapped even when sitting beside a warm fire. "My limbs were given to the gods, so that my soul might remain. Instead of my hand," he finished, turning away, letting his shirt slip down to show them bare skin and the black tattoo that marred the entirety of his torso, "I bear the Blood-Sin upon my back."

Neither of his hosts said a word aloud at first, though the Dark made their surprise clear - and in Gremio's case, his revulsion at the thought of such a barbaric ritual. Sydney, his back still turned, found himself smirking cynically; wild as Gremio's rune might be, it must not revel in suffering as the Dark did.

Tir, however, had shown no sign of being repulsed or unnerved, and it was he who spoke up. "That must be why my Soul Eater hasn't shown any sign of hunger towards you - your soul is protected."

Sydney didn't understand, but he turned back enough to see Gremio's wan, forced smile. "Ah, well... That is good news, at least..."

Likely it was, but it made little difference. Sydney had known all along what he must do, and nothing Tir or Gremio could say would change the facts. "Perhaps," he allowed, tugging his shirt back to his shoulders with the bladed fingers, still clumsy and new. "But although my soul is protected, and my life sustained, it is a curse I bear. I could not remain in my homeland - I have become a danger to anyone who comes near me. Not only would the church execute any associate of someone who bears such a profane symbol, one clearly sustained by witchcraft, but the Dark hungers. It is a constant murmuring in my mind, calling for blood and violence-" 

And he hadn't meant to admit so much, but the understanding Tir and Gremio had shown to him thus far coaxed the words forth - fears and sorrows he'd been unable to voice, that he would have been unable to speak of even had he not been forced to solitude. "A... a group of robbers came upon me on the road not long after I had left my father's manor," he explained, nearly choking on the words in his reluctance to remember, and his inability to forget. "No doubt they saw my fine clothes, and that I carried no sword, and thought me an easy mark. I did not know of their presence until the dagger bit deep into my back... and then I woke, and was too surprised by my waking to rein in the Dark. I... I could not say how many robbers there were," he murmured. "The Dark cut them to pieces... their corpses were strewn across the road, the cobblestones stained red..."

The Dark was occupied with cackling in his ear in remembered glee, and not reporting the words Tir and Gremio did not speak, but Gremio's thoughts were clear enough from his stricken expression. Tir's was merely grim, and Sydney found himself saying more. "I knew then that I could not stay among people; having fed once, the Dark wanted more. I made my way to a port city... and again was approached by men with no good intentions. I thought only to warn them away, but again, the Dark was all too eager to defend me... Even the town guard who saw the commotion, and intended to come to my aid..."

Sydney's vision blurred. The Dark was gibbering at him, asking for more than the mere memory. It wanted more death, more pain, more fear and bloodshed and destruction. And the only two living beings with him now were Tir and Gremio, who had offered hospitality and understanding...

Before he could say a word, Tir spoke. "Stay with us, Sydney."

It was as if he had known what Sydney was about to say. "I cannot stay. I thank you for-"

"Stay with us," Tir repeated, standing up as Sydney did. "Please."

Sydney scoffed quietly. "Even if I believed you understood the risks of such an invitation, I suspect Gremio does not agree."

"No." Gremio spoke up suddenly, softly. "No, I too prefer that you stay on with us for a time, if you would."

Sydney stared at him, surprised. Gremio clearly was horrified by what Sydney had told them, so why would he...?

"I remember when I bonded with my rune," Gremio told him, also getting to his feet. "It gave me the most terrifying urges, a hunger for blood and snapping bone..."

"And as I said, mine was more subtle," said Tir. "It merely... arranged things. It propelled me into the middle of a war, so that it would have no shortage of souls to devour. It swallowed up the woman who led the resistance before me, and my best friend, and my father-"

"Even me," Gremio put in. "It was only a stroke of luck that another Bearer he was acquainted with had wisdom enough to know of a way to return me."

"And if she hadn't," Tir said, "I don't know that I would have survived. I do know that I wouldn't have wanted to."

"And as for me, I know I would have only found myself spiraling out of control without my Young Master present, to bring me back to myself," Gremio added. "Both of us tried at first to fight these battles by ourselves, each thinking to keep the other from harm. But it was futile - without someone to stand with us, to remind us of who we were and who we are, the runes simply consumed more of the Bearer, day by day."

"It's not just us, either," said Tir. "We've met others who bore True Runes. Those who have friends and family manage to remain themselves, but those who try to bear the burden on their own almost always break under the strain. So please," he repeated. "Stay with us."

Sydney looked to Gremio, who nodded. "You speak of friends and family, people who know the Bearer," Sydney pointed out. "You two are strangers - you know nothing of me."

"That may be so," Tir acknowledged. "But we seem to know your rune, or at the very least, runes like it."

"And I know what I saw in your eyes when you told us what drove you into solitude," said Gremio, taking a few steps around the fire to approach Sydney. "I know because a long time ago, I saw the same in the eyes of my Young Master, a boy with a heart too kind for the deeds of a dangerous, deadly rune. But I had faith that that boy - unfair as it was that he should be saddled with such a fate - I had faith that he was strong enough to endure, and to eventually master the powers of the rune."

"Which is good," Tir interrupted, and Sydney saw another of his rare, sincere smiles. "Because I didn't have that faith."

"You see?" Gremio continued. "You need someone who believes in you even when you don't yet believe in yourself. And even though we've only just met, Young Master and I know a thing or two about dangerous runes - including the fact that they _can_ be mastered."

"So you will master your... Blood-Sin," Tir stated. "We'll make sure of it."

"And until you can control it," Gremio suggested, "ours may be able to, ah, prevent yours from doing much damage. After all, we've had years of practice."

Sydney wasn't so sure about that, but... they did have a point. A few excellent points, in fact. And a great deal of experience, if what they said was true. Although... His eyes drifted to Tir's face, still boyish and round. Yet Gremio had talked about 'a long time ago' and 'years of practice'...

"If I may ask, Tir," Sydney said after a moment. "How old are you, truly?"

It was Gremio's mouth that opened to reply - but Tir's hand was abruptly covering it, the rune's dark mark standing out strongly, but not appearing so dangerous below Gremio's surprised eyes. "I'll tell you," Tir said, turning that honest smile to Sydney this time. "Tomorrow. If you agree to stay on with us at least until then."

Overnight...? That wasn't so long, Sydney mused, not so much opportunity for the Dark to get into mischief. And, well...

Sydney found himself smiling back a little bit, cautiously. "It seems you may already know more of me than I had expected - I find it very difficult to walk away from something when my curiosity has yet to be satisfied."

"Hmm." Tir's smile turned slightly mischievous, a sparkle in his eye as he exchanged a glance with Gremio. "Then it's a good thing that Gremio and I are rather curious people."

"If it helps," Gremio said brightly, "I'll refuse to tell him the secret ingredient in my special stew."

"Not quite what I had in mind..."

While recipes may not have been what Sydney was curious about, he found that it _did_ help. As the two of them dissolved into friendly banter, which turned into Tir _tickling_ Gremio, of all things... they seemed normal. Despite the darkness in their pasts, and the destructive powers they each held in their right hands, Tir and Gremio had found at least small pockets of normality. Normality, love, acceptance - even happiness, from the helpless laughter that came of Tir's tickling, and the grin that made him seem the age he appeared to be, rather than the age that Gremio's words and his own wisdom suggested.

If it was possible for them, then just maybe it was possible for him. Assuming he dared to try.

For the night, at least, he decided that he was willing to try.


End file.
